I went to business school, and I went straight from that to a nine-year career at Microsoft. Eventually, I ran a big chunk of the consumer products division for Microsoft.Then I left with the birth of our first daughter because Bill and I both wanted to have a few kids.

I felt suicidal. I couldn't stop crying. I remember thinking, wouldn't it be great if the car crashed and I died?

Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh.

Even in decision-making, we work in self-help groups. That is women coming together in small groups of 10 to sometimes 15 women, where they start to get education about their rights, about clean water and sanitation, about how to have a healthy birth. You can bring in all kinds of education to them that way.

Women and girls should be able to determine their own future, no matter where they're born.

Take time to learn about the lives of women around the world-and try to play a small part in their fight to create the future they deserve.

If you invest in a girl or a woman, you are investing in everybody else.